Sitting pensively in her office at the ground floor of Continental House in Nairobi, Parliamentary Service Commission member Lonah Mumelo is following updates on the burial plans for former President Daniel arap Moi.
This rekindles the memories of how she was made a principal by the former Head of State.
Ms Mumelo, a teacher by profession, says she owes all her achievements to Moi, who supported her when she served as secondary school principal.
In an interview with the Nation, Ms Mumelo vividly remembers how Moi made her a principal in the mid 1980s in her absence, a move she said raised eyebrows among senior education officials.
Ms Mumelo says in the mid 1980s, President Moi visited Panpaper factory in Webuye and later scheduled a meeting with a delegation from western region at Kabarak in Nakuru.
FORGOTTEN TRIBE
Although she did not attend the meeting, she was informed that it was during that event that the delegation raised concern that there has been no principal ever from the Tachoni sub-tribe of the Luhya community.
President Moi was surprised and immediately asked the delegation to suggest the name of an individual they wanted appointed to the position.
That is when her name was floated and Moi announced that Ms Mumelo had been appointed principal with immediate effect.
“I was not aware of what was happening but immediately after the meeting, I started receiving calls from the people who attended the Nakuru forum congratulating me for the promotion,” she said.
She later received a call from the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) telling her to go and pick her promotion letter.
“When I went to TSC, I was just asked about my details and given my promotion letter. I instantly moved from Job group M to P. I did not do any interview. I remain grateful to Mzee Moi to date. “I don’t care whether some people call him a dictator or other bad names; to me, he was a father figure,” Ms Mumelo said.
GOODIES
Ms Mumelo said her promotion was not received well by some provincial directors of education (PDEs), who were jealous.
“The PDEs were not happy and started hating me because of the favour I got from the President, but no one could challenge the promotion because that would mean you are challenging direct orders from the President,” she said.
Ms Mumelo served as a principal at Moi Girls-Nangile, Namawanga Girls and Busiada Girls, where on various occasions the former President would visit and leave goodies.
“In Moi Girls-Nangile, he bought for us a 63-seater school bus and the girls were happy,” Ms Mumelo said.
She said when President Moi visited Webuye, he was impressed by the Namawanga Girls choir and handed over Sh200,000 to the head girl.
Ms Mumelo recalls that in the campaigns for the 1997 General Election, President Moi bought the first television set for Namawanga Girls.
“The girls were very happy because they had a television they could watch during their entertainment time,” Ms Mumelo said.
LOVE OF EDUCATION
She said the former Head of State cared about the welfare of teachers and anytime school heads had a meeting with him, he would solve all their problems.
“He created the terms of service for teachers at TSC; the teachers’ job groups that exist today are courtesy of President Moi. With him at the helm, a teacher was assured of moving up the job group,” Ms Mumelo said.
“He really valued teachers and loved education; he wanted the best from teachers.”
Many people have hailed the former president for his immense contribution to the sector. For instance, immediately he took power in 1978, he abolished fees in upper primary school.
He later extended it to Standard Seven. For the first time, Kenya offered free primary school education.
The former Head of State also introduced free milk programme in primary schools to promote pupil retention and completion.